Silicon Sparrow » Business

Adventures in Outsourcing

Adam — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:23:39 +0000

I’m currently attempting to get a batch of RS232 Rate Converters made in China, I’ve been getting the PCBs etched in China for months now so this is the logical next step.
The biggest problem so far has been sourcing the parts. I’m getting most of the stuff from DigiKey because they specialize in smaller orders – I don’t have the sales volume to justify making 1000 of these things.
But get this. DigiKey will not deliver microprocessors to China, because of export restrictions, for a microprocessor that was made in China in the first place!
Ah well, I found a Chinese supplier for the microprocessors thanks to the very excellent alibaba.com so I have all the parts on their way now.
So stay tuned, I’ll post photos when I get the assembled boards back from China.

Overkill or Foresight?

Adam — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:23:09 +0000

The Serial Bit Rate Converter runs an ARM7 CPU which is complete overkill for the simple job of relaying serial data. I’ve often thought I should redesign it to run a cheaper and less powerful CPU like a PIC or AVR. I originally designed it with an ARM7 simply because I like them and enjoy programming them.

Another reason I never redesigned it for AVR is that the economics are not that great. It would probably take $5 off the price but cost me a couple of weeks of time to redesign the entire thing.

This decision has had an unexpected benefit recently. A customer asked me if I could add an extra function to search-and-replace byte sequences in the data stream. Now I’m really glad to have 50 MIPS on board because a smaller CPU might not have had the grunt to do the job.

So having a way-too-powerful CPU has produced a long-term benefit to enable me to quickly sieze a market opportunity.

Faster and Faster

Adam — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 02:45:44 +0000

I haven’t written very much about my goals here. My general long-term goal is to produce a range of for-sale products which might be either hardware, software or a combination of both, but my short-term goal is to simply become faster at designing and implementing stuff and that means:

Being able to learn new technologies quickly
Picking and choosing which design techniques to use to make a good match with my experience and strengths
Remaining focused and managing my time well

I was quite pleased to get the Volume Box product from concept to production in only six weeks – especially since most of that time was spent waiting for suppliers and subcontractors, I probably only spent 10 days of my own time on it.

But of course I’ll have to try to be even quicker next time.

I already know what my next product will be but I am up to my eyeballs in contract work at the moment which, while it does pay the bills, takes up all my available time. So I will have to hold off until I get the contract jobs out of the way, then I can go hard on the next product and see how quick I can do it.

Volume Box is Almost There

Adam — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:16:24 +0000

I’m getting orders for the Volume Box already. I haven’t even put up a web page for it. But wouldn’t you know it, the plastic case I want is not in stock with any of my regular suppliers (at least, those ones who are not still on extended Christmas holiday) so I’m having to get some cases flown in from England of all places so I can fill the orders. Of course I am going to have to absorb the extra cost of that, I wonder if Sony ever has these kind of supply-chain problems.

And Out the Door they Go!

Adam — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:56:41 +0000

Sales of the RS232 Rate Converter were a little slow throughout October and November but they sure have caught up in the last couple of weeks. I thought I had enough stock to see me through until January but after a flurry of orders, I am now completely sold out.

So I’ve been frantically ordering parts to build more units ASAP. I suppose having too many orders is a good problem to have, better than having no orders.

I’ve no idea why sales have suddenly surged, it’s not the kind of thing you’d buy as a Christmas present!

Time for a new Product

Adam — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:32:50 +0000

Well, the RS232 Rate Converter is pretty mature now. It does it’s job well and there is not a lot of improvements to make to it anymore. So what to do next?

I’ve been talking with a friend in the home automation business and he reckons there’d be a small market for an RS232 controllable volume control. This device would allow a home automation processor to control the volume on an amplifier which does not have any other means of remote control.

Now I thought that would be a pretty simple thing for me to make so I built a prototype. It only took me three evenings to cobble together something that works, thanks mainly to RS Components‘ free next-day shipping for electronic parts. I think this will be my next product.

Of course I can’t sell it in this state, it’s funny but taking a product from prototype to production is usually more work than making the prototype in the first place.

New Look for Ka-Ching Pal Website

Adam — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:50:18 +0000

Since I changed my other sites, I may as well complete the trilogy. Ka-Ching Pal now has the same snazzy look as my other Silicon Sparrow branded sites.

New Look for Serial Gadget Website

Adam — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:48:22 +0000

I liked the new Super Transcribe site that Bea designed for me so much, I copied the design to Serial Gadget too! It has the Silicon Sparrow logo at the top and a more prominent BUY button. The colour scheme is much improved and it ties in well with my current branding exercise.

It looks like a proper professional product now. Why not go and have a look at http://serialgadget.com/.

New look for the Super Transcribe Website

Adam — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:44:05 +0000

Bea did a neat new design for me. This is a lot better than the previous design.

I like the more prominent DOWNLOAD and BUY buttons, plus the news items are better separated from the main text. The Silicon Sparrow logo has been included in a big way which continues on the theme of drawing all my products under the one brand. It is looking good.

You can visit the site at http://supertranscribe.com/.

What on Earth is Ka-Ching Pal ?

Adam — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:05:03 +0000

I was setting up some eCommerce websites recently, maybe it was a combination of not enough sleep and too much coffee but I thought to myself, I wish that whenever I got a payment through PayPal, my PC would make a Ka-ching! noise.

So then I spent a couple of hours making a Windows Tray App to do just that.

Then I thought maybe other people might like this too.

So I spent an additional two days setting up a website and polishing the app, making an installer and sorting out all the other little details that are needed to make it usable by non-nerds.

So here we have my new product called Ka-Ching Pal. The website is up and taking orders at http://kachingpal.com/.